Commander's Rounds

Entry 54-5 Operation Ulysses: Siren Silenced

Hornet was frustrated.

The stubbornness of the remaining Siren forces was hindering her efforts to help the commander, but the way things had turned out, she couldn't do much about it except hold on and let the others slowly grind Tester's forces into scrap. She couldn't try any fancy maneuvers because they had been constantly fighting for a long time, the enemy still existed in substantial numbers, and no one still under her command was working at 100% capacity- the fight had simply gone on for too long.

Hornet herself wasn't at her breaking point or anything, but their stocks of aircraft were also a bit too depleted to effect much of a change in the overall situation. She was stuck in the middle of a slog against Siren forces who were doing their best to continue to fight in a way that made it hard for her people to destroy them quickly, and she was out of ideas. The fleet had held together, but she didn't have any masterstroke that would obliterate her enemies.

Still, she did go through the routines of launching her remaining planes- the other ships knew what they had to do, and they were doing it to the best of her ability. So, she just went back to doing the most basic thing she was made to do, which was to launch planes to fight the enemy. The planes she had remaining, anyway.

However, after the next round of landings, Hornet noticed something strange. "Hm?" She looked at a Corsair. "Wait, where did this extra plane come from?" She looked it over, and found that there was a message tied around the rear half of its body. She carefully unwrapped it, and read it out.

//

From: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

To: USS Hornet (CV-8) or other eligible recipient

We are on our way to your position at best speed. Hold as best able until relieved.

//

Hornet blinked, and that meant she had something else to do. she grabbed whatever destroyer was nearest and told her to spread the word throughout the rest of the fleet to not do anything risky- after all, help was on the way.

With that done, Hornet launched her aircraft again, and then put her flight deck down in the water so she could sit on it for a while. She took her hat off and began to fan herself with it- Enterprise didn't waste time, after all, so it was almost over. She began to wonder, though, if this battle would end up as another chapter in Enterprise's legendary career once she swooped in like the cavalry. She shouldn't be jealous of big sister, but, the thought wouldn't leave her mind.

---------------

"So... Even this wasn't enough..."

Incomparable was shaky as the molten and smoldering pieces of her rigging fell off one by one and splashed into the briny deep around her, ending with even a couple of her main turrets. She had overclocked everything in a bid to hold Tester at bay, and maybe even defeat her, but it appeared that the latter wasn't in the cards- it just wasn't something a single ship could do on her own, even if she'd had more experience. She fought far longer and far harder than was, perhaps, healthy for her- she'd been stressing herself ever since she started looking for the commander.

At that time, however, all of that caught up to her in the space of a single moment, and she fell into the water, floating on her back as she was able to do nothing else except look at the sky, and wait for whatever Tester would do to her, now that the Siren had her at her mercy, and the range of options of what awaited her at the hands of the callously curious Siren was both long and disquieting.